Last Thursday, one of our regulars, Ray in Baltimore, chimed in with his thoughts on the Orioles and other sports topics. At some point – and honestly, I don’t remember why this even came up – Ray made a comment and quickly followed it with the words “no homo”…laughing a little bit as he said it.

I kind of laughed, too.

I didn’t think anything of it.

When I woke up on Sunday morning and saw the uproar over Roy Hibbert’s “no homo” comment following Saturday’s NBA playoff game between Indiana and Miami, I remembered quite vividly that Ray in Baltimore said the same thing last week on my show.

I didn’t think anything of it when Ray said it.

It was, I’m guessing here, Ray’s way of simply saying, “I’m not gay…”

That’s apparently what Roy Hibbert was trying to say on Saturday night when he made reference to being “stretched out by LeBron” and quickly threw in “no homo” before continuing his comments.

Had he said this instead, what would the reaction have been? – “I was getting stretched out by LeBron — and before you guys start making wisecracks, no, I’m not gay…that’s a basketball term, ‘stretched out’, ok?”

If Roy Hibbert would have simply declared, “I’m not gay”, I can’t assume anyone would really care, right? Sure, it would have been an awkward moment, weaving his sexuality into a basketball press conference, but I’m assuming there’s no way it makes national headlines the next morning if Hibbert says “I’m not gay” instead of “no homo”.

So the word – homo – that’s what all of this is about. Had he said “homosexual”, there’s no issue at all, right?

Had Hibbert just said, “and I’m not gay”, there’s no headline material.

Sure, some might wonder why a man would even to have protect himself by saying, “I’m not gay”, but just as folks have the right to proclaim they ARE gay, don’t people have the right to reinforce they’re NOT gay?

I wrote a month ago that all of this back and forth about who’s gay and who isn’t and whose feelings are hurt and what you can say and can’t say has left me, simply, “gay’d out”.

Enough already.

It’s getting to the point where you’re just better off saying nothing — about anything — and that way no one gets offended. Duct tape sales should skyrocket in our country over the next ten years. Invest now.

Roy Hibbert didn’t cause a World War on Saturday night. Oklahoma has endured ten days of deadly tornadoes. People have lost their lives their homes, their futures. That stuff is important. On a scale of 1-to-10, Hibbert’s post-game comments were a “2”. I think calling the media “m**herf**kers” after the game is the most idiotic thing he said. To me, the “no homo” comment isn’t worth this kind of backlash and scrutiny.

Then again, I’m the guy who allowed it to appear on my show last week because, honestly, I had zero idea it was such a big deal to say “no homo”.

If anyone listening was offended, I apologize.

Even though I didn’t say it, allowing it to cross the airwaves is my responsibility.